Judges 5:6
in Judges 5In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were deserted and the travelers took the byways.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, In the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, And the travellers walked through byways.
KJV
In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways.
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This verse in Judges 5
Commentary
8 notes on this verseWhereas in times when there was some order and government the travellers might be safe in the open roads, and the robbers were forced to lurk in the by-ways, no, on the contrary, the robbers insulted on the open roads without check, and the honest travellers were obliged to sculk and walk through by-ways, in continual frights.
This site's exposition
In the days of Shamgar
on Judges 5:6-8
Shamgar is the man of Judges 3:31 who killed six hundred Philistines with an ox goad, and Jael is named here before the song tells what she did. The conditions given are the ones a trader would notice first, main roads left empty, travellers keeping to side tracks, and the open villages abandoned for walled towns. Verse 8 sets cause beside effect, new gods chosen and then war in the gates, and asks whether a shield or a spear was to be seen among forty thousand, a state of disarmament close to what 1 Samuel 13:19-22 later describes under the Philistines.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Judges 5:6) In the days of Sangar, the son of Anath, in the days of Jahel, the paths remained empty, and those who entered through them walked along crooked roads. The paths are said to have remained empty because during the time of Sangar, the leader of Israel, the paths had been taken over by enemies of Israel, and they did not dare to freely ascend to the house of the Lord to pray; instead, those who entered through them secretly ascended through crooked streets, out of fear of the enemies.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
) as one that would have served her country if it had been in her power; now she applauds her as one that did serve it admirably well when it was in her power. Her poetry is finest and most florid here in the latter end of the song.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The song proceeds in these verses to describe the sad condition of the country, the oppression of the people, and the origin of all the national distress in the people's apostasy from God. Idolatry was the cause of foreign invasion and internal inability to resist it.
The highways were unoccupied - The land was full of anarchy and confusion, being everywhere infested with banditti. No public road was safe; and in going from place to place, the people were obliged to use unfrequented paths.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Words dcscriptive of a state of weakness and fear, so that Israel could not frequent the highways. It is a graphic description of a country occupied by an enemy.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בִּימֵ֞י | bimei | in [the] days of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| שַׁמְגַּ֤ר | shamgar | Shamgar | H8044 → | |
| בֶּן־ | ben- | [the] son of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| עֲנָת֙ | ʾanat | Anath | H6067 → | |
| בִּימֵ֣י | bimei | in [the] days of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| יָעֵ֔ל | yael | Jael | H3278 → | 6 times |
| חָדְל֖וּ | chadelu | they ceased | H2308 → | 58 times |
| אֳרָח֑וֹת | ʾorachot | roads | H734 → | |
| וְהֹלְכֵ֣י | veholekhei | and walkers of | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| נְתִיב֔וֹת | netivot | paths | H5410 → | |
| יֵלְכ֕וּ | yelekhu | they walked | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| אֳרָח֖וֹת | ʾorachot | roads | H734 → | |
| עֲקַלְקַלּֽוֹת׃ | akalkalot | twisting | H6128 → |
בִּימֵ֞יin [the] days of
bimeiH3117 →2304 times
שַׁמְגַּ֤רShamgar
shamgarH8044 →
בֶּן־[the] son of
ben-H1121 →4930 times
עֲנָת֙Anath
ʾanatH6067 →
בִּימֵ֣יin [the] days of
bimeiH3117 →2304 times
יָעֵ֔לJael
yaelH3278 →6 times
חָדְל֖וּthey ceased
chadeluH2308 →58 times
אֳרָח֑וֹתroads
ʾorachotH734 →
וְהֹלְכֵ֣יand walkers of
veholekheiH1980 →1546 times
נְתִיב֔וֹתpaths
netivotH5410 →
יֵלְכ֕וּthey walked
yelekhuH1980 →1546 times
אֳרָח֖וֹתroads
ʾorachotH734 →
עֲקַלְקַלּֽוֹת׃twisting
akalkalotH6128 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 125:5But those who turn to crooked ways the LORD will banish with the evildoers. Peace be upon Israel.
it leads to
- Isaiah 59:8
The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their tracks. They have turned them into crooked paths; no one who treads on them will know peace.
- Proverbs 2:15
whose paths are crooked and whose ways are devious.
- Psalms 128:6
that you may see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel!
- Galatians 6:16
Peace and mercy to all who walk by this rule, even to the Israel of God.
- Psalms 40:4
Blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, who has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
- Isaiah 59:8
Through
Leviticus 26:22I will send wild animals against you to rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and reduce your numbers, until your roads lie desolate.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:24
They will be wasted from hunger and ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague; I will send the fangs of wild beasts against them, with the venom of vipers that slither in the dust.
- Ezekiel 14:15
Or if I send wild beasts through the land to leave it childless and desolate, with no man passing through it for fear of the beasts,
- Deuteronomy 32:24
Through
Lamentations 1:4The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she herself is bitter with anguish.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 9:11
“And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
- Jeremiah 9:11
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Judges
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on the Song of Deborah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.